*Violet's POV*

It was a lot warmer in Hargeon than it had been in Magnolia. It wasn't often that I walked down city streets in broad daylight, and I started to realize that many of the traits that I had assumed belonged solely to Fairy Tail's home city were actually present everywhere. The hustle and bustle of merchants and tourists, children chasing each other through the casually turning crowd.

But even so, I found I liked Magnolia better. There were parts of Hargeon that were different. It didn't have the same quiet power and awe that I had found so intriguing in Magnolia. It smelled not of not of bakeries and flowers but of the sea, a reminder of the salty air at Justice Valkyrie's south base, our winter location. It had always been my favorite before. Though now I guessed I would never see it again.

Happiness and despair fought each other in my heart at the prospect. I never had to go back there again. I was never going back. The battle seemed to be a draw, as after only a few seconds of consideration, the only thing I felt was emptiness.

Erza walked a few feet ahead of me, clutching the job request in one hand and a map of the city in the other. The rest of my entourage brought up the rear, with Lucy and Grey standing between me and Natsu and Happy. I couldn't quite tell if this had been intentional or not, but I slightly thanked them for it nonetheless.

For now, Natsu didn't seem to be paying much attention to what was going on around him. We had only just left the station, and I could still feel the haze of motion sickness hanging over his mind. I knew it could be several minutes before he was back to normal. The longer the better.

I wasn't sure how far we still had to go before arriving at our destination. I supposed that I should have asked Erza or Grey before getting off the train, but it was too late to do so now without seeming impatient. I would have had to deal with being led along blindly.

After only a minute or so of walking I felt a change behind me, Lucy turned and whispered something to Grey that I couldn't quite make out, and a moment later I heard her rushing forward, coming to walk at my side.

I glanced over as she fell into step beside me. She flashed a smile in greeting, and I did my best to return it, hoping that she had gotten the message. This seemed to be another one of her friendly endeavors, having me walk with her rather than alone, and I sensed that a conversation was coming before she started it, and somehow it was a relief.

"Have you ever been here before?" she asked cheerfully.

"Once or twice." I sighed, "but never for long, and only at night."

I sensed a sudden uncomfortableness, but it passed quickly. I'm not sure why she expected that I would have been here for anything other than a mission.

"How about you?" I asked, trying to pull the conversation away from my past and into hers.

"A couple times," she nodded, "mostly only when on the way to somewhere else though."

"Well it is a port town." I prayed that she would stay something else. I didn't know how to lead a conversation. perhaps it had been a mistake to ask her a question in the first place. Had I given her the impression that I was ready to have a long talk?

I felt her prepare to say something else, then hesitate, considering if it was the right thing to say before finally speaking. "Actually, this is where I first met Natsu."

My body tensed, which was not unnoticed, but I forced myself to relax. Natsu was a part of her life. He was standing right behind me. He was normal. I had to convince myself of it.

"I didn't know that," I said carefully, "was it before you joined then?"

She nodded, seeming to take my words not only as interested in her, but as affirmation that Natsu was a safe conversation topic.

She told me about how they had met, and then how she had joined Fairy Tail. as she spoke I mostly listened, though she seemed undeterred by my silence. Throughout the story I found myself picking up on details only to immediately throw them aside. I took mental notes about her, as thought I were gathering entail on a target, only to realize that it was unnecessary. I wasn't planning on killing her. I never had been. I became unsure of what I was supposed to be paying attention to, if not gathering information to use against her later, I didn't know what to remember. But not knowing what else to do, I kept on as I was. Perhaps the things I learned would turn out to be useful in some other way.

Lucy concluded her story shortly after she arrived at Fairy Tail, and I looked ahead to Erza to see that we were no closer to our destination. We appeared to be passing through the heart to town, but she showed no signs of stopping as we walked right through it. I guessed that our destination had to be on the opposite side of the Hargeon as the train station.

I realized that a lot of time had passed since Lucy had last spoken. It must be my turn to say something. But I had nothing to say. What could we talk about that didn't lead to awkward places? What did we have in common? And it came to me. The reason that I had been so excited to meet all the Fairy tail wizards in the first place. We could all use magic.

"You're a Celestial Wizard right?" I asked.

The question seemed to surprise Lucy, but she recovered quicker than I would have been able to. "Yep!"

And there was a sudden rush of pride there. And adoration for not only her talent as an individual, but for all of the celestial wizards who had come before her. A love of the art itself. I had no such relationship with my magic, and it occurred to me for the first time that perhaps I was the outlier in that.

"I've never really met one before you." I said, "I didn't even know it was a thing."

"Well we're not common," Lucy said, "it's not easy to collect enough keys to really make it work." I watched her hand fall unconsciously over the large pouch of her belt, where I knew her keys were resting.

"It must be hard," I said, struggling to keep my words going, "to keep up good relationships with all of them…"

I realized I had lost her.

"Your spirits I mean," I amended, becoming more unsure of what I was trying to say, "it's like…" a magic built out of making friends.

But even as the thought came to me, I realized how ridiculous something like that would sound to someone like Lucy. She, who was friends with everyone. Working with spirits must come as second nature to her, the perfect match of magic and wizard.

But I had already painted myself into a corner by talking without thinking. I had to come up with something… "I don't know." I said quickly, "I'm just rambling I guess."

"Oh," Lucy said cheerfully, "no worries!"

But I knew that my patchy recovery hadn't gone over her head. She knew that I had been planning to say something only to back out at the last minute. And I felt my heart falling as I realized I had wasted my precious words to say nothing.

I counted twenty six steps before she spoke again.

"Once we have some down time," she said, talking slower than usual, "Remind me to show you, my spirits would love to meet you...most of them anyway."

I sensed the tell tale signs of an unpleasant memory, and I was half tempted to ask what exactly Lucy meant by most of them. But I thought better of it. I didn't want to remind her of my magic, after having a conversation that she had thought was normal, I knew it could be awkward to remind her that I had been able to read her the whole time.

I knew that my sliver tongue should have been an unfair advantage in winning people over. I should have been able to keep conversations going easier than other people, because I would be the only one in the group who knew what everyone was feeling about it.

But things never seemed to work out in my favor.

Even with the added aid of seeing into people's heads, I was always the one out of the loop. It was me who was missing some fundamental part of communication, something that blocked my ability to understand the people around me. I had thought before that Lucy was the perfect person to be a celestial wizard. But how did I fit in with my Magic?

Silver tongue and I didn't seem to compliment eachother much. I was too shy to use it to any real advantage, or perhaps I was shy because of my magic. I had never considered it before. I had never been in a palace where my shyness was as an much of an issue as it was in Fairy Tail

Connecting with other people was not necessary for the jobs I did. If there needed to be talking done then August would always be the one to do it. I hadn't ever needed anyone else. It was me and him. The perfect team.

But I realized not that perhaps that wasn't entirely true. I had never needed any social skills because I never used them, which in turn meant that I didn't have any. And now, walking through the streets of an unfamiliar city, miles away from August and surrounded by strangers, I finally realized that I was a fish out of water, drowning on what should have been solid land.

After only a few more minutes of walking I realized we were nearing the border of the city. Already the buildings around us had started to thin out, making room for larger yards and gardens. Every minute or so we would pass by another path, until there were no more forks in the road left.

I noticed that Erza had pocketed the map and the job request, no longer needing their guidance. We were close now. I looked up to see she was leading us toward a large two-story house only a little ways ahead of us. It was beautiful and mighty, with a white wrap around porch and large windows looking in one what I assumed was a two story entryway.

We were almost there.

I was unsure of how to approach a job like this. All of the ones that I had already been on didn't involve meeting with the client first, and now that I was here I found myself growing nervous.

The job request had been for me. I wouldn't be able to allow the others to talk to these strangers on my behalf, but I had no idea what I was supposed to say, how I was supposed to play this. I didn't even know who was asking for me or how they had known I was at Fairy tail.

But I had no more time to work things out. Before I knew it, our rather large group had congregated on the narrow porch of the house, and after doing a quick head count, Erza turned and wordlessly knocked on the door three times.

I felt the other's nervousness grow around me, all of their bodies automatically taking defensive positions, and I noticed for the first time that I was sandwiched in the center of the group, protected by a circle of fairies. But before I could do anything about it, I heard movement form inside the house.

I felt everyone around me holding their breath. Slowly, the door fell open, revealing a young man on the other side. He had sea green hair kept at bay by a pony tail that strongly resembled my own. His clothes were plain and practical, not something I had expected of a resident of a house so large. His narrow eyes slid over me easily, watching the others. I could sense that he was reserved, calculating and callused. I didn't read any mal intent, but there was nothing objectively good about him either.

It was Erza that finally spoke. "We are Fairy Tail wizards." she said, "here to complete the request you sent."

The man took a step back, but not far enough for us to see inside. "Yes," he nodded, his voice, like his face, gave nothing away, "we received word that you were on your way." He looked over us again. "Do you have the Silver Tongue with you?"

Erza hesitated, still unsure of his intent. I filled the gap. If something was going to happen, good or bad, I wanted to get it over with. "I'm here." I said.

The man's eyes came to me with renewed interest. I forced myself not to shrink under them. He scanned over me again, then stopped halfway through, finding something he liked, before looking away and smiling.

I scowled. I had already dealt with one creep that day, I wasn't sure I could handle another. But before I could make up my mind about what to do, he stepped aside, opening the door in earnest. "Come in."

We did.

I lead the way this time, trying to get a read of the place, desperate for more information. The others followed me warily, all prepared to leap into a fight at a moment's notice. The man closed the door behind him and slid several locks into place, making us all uneasy. A moment later he appeared at the front of the group.

"I imagine you all must be confused by our request." he sighed, turning his back and leading us deeper into the house. "I hope we can explain it soon."

The entryway was dark, and it was making me uneasy. I could see the shadows of ornate furniture, a beautiful staircase with a hand crafted gold banister, and still we walked on. Finally we reached a set of white double doors, and the man stopped to open them.

I sucked in a breath. The room was beautiful. The twelve foot ceilings were dripping with crown molding and washed in light from the narrow floor to ceiling windows set into the opposite wall. On either side of the door were alternating tapestries and bookshelves, and right in front of me was a large white desk with several chairs waiting in front of it.

The man who had greeted us at the door walked around to the opposite side where a woman was waiting in a high wing back office chair. She smiled at me first, and then looked at each of the others in turn, her white-blond hair glittering as she moved her head.

"Please sit," she said, in a voice that I felt was much too low and mature for her soft face and eyes.

We did as we were told, and no sooner had my butt touched the soft velvet of my seat cushion had Natsu opened his mouth.

"Are you gonna tell us who you are?"

My eyes slid shut, as if cutting off the light could hide me from the embarrassment of him. The others reacted similarly, save for Grey who seemed to be expecting an answer.

But the two strangers before us were undeterred. I opened my eyes slowly to find that the woman was smiling. "I suppose we owe you that and more now that you've come all the way here."

I leaned forward in my chair.

"My name is Topaz." she said, "and this is my partner Kaze."

The rest of us introduced ourselves, though the entire time the others were talking, Topaz kept her eyes on me. I tried to remain calm as I choked out my own name "Violet."

"We'll be in your care." the woman said, finally looking away from me and to the man, Kaze.

The Fairies were unsure of how to proceed. I felt my own curiosity boiling away in my chest, melting my fear. "If you don't mind me asking," I said, "Why did you send for me specifically?"

"We sent for Fairy Tail wizards." Kaze said, "I thought I didn't expect so many."

"You requested a Silver Tongue." I said, ignoring his off hand remark, "That's me."

I could feel the others looking at me, but I ignored them. At this point it was unlikely we would be attacked. What I needed now were answers.

Kaze looked back to Topaz, deferring to her in appearance, though I sensed in both of them that they viewed each other as equals. "You are correct." Topaz said, "We did send for you."

"But why?" I asked, "and how did you know I would be there."

"Straight to the point I see." her tone made the fairies shift uncomfortably in their chairs, but I could sense what she really thought of my directness. refreshing , exhilarating, new. I was amusing her.

I liked it.

"Then I won't beat around the bush with you either." Topaz continued. "We asked you here because we know who you are Violet Price."

I heard a sharp intake of breath from somewhere behind me, and struggled to douse my own rising anxieties.

"That bandage you're wearing…" Kaze said, "are you injured?" he gestured to the one remaining bandage, the one that was hiding my Justice Valkyrie guild mark. I realized only then, that it must have been the subject of his interest when we were still on the porch. Even then he must have known. But…

"I-I don't understand."

"Let me explain."

Kaze reached for the color of his shirt and pulled it down a few inches, there, I saw a similar symbol, a pair of wings bordering a single sword. The mark of the guild that had raised me.